Help Won't fully charge. Is it the beginning of the end?

[gale65]

I've been having a lot of trouble with my S7 (less than 2 yrs old and always been extra careful with it) overheating and the battery discharging way faster than normal. I sent it to squaretrade and they claim to have replaced the battery, but it seems even worse now. I tried the reset where you let the battery discharge fully, then charge it up with the phone off, and then repeat. Now my phone won't charge past 98%. Squaretrade won't cover their repair so I'm stuck with it. Is it dying? Should I start shopping for a new phone?

 

[mikedt]

I've been having a lot of trouble with my S7 (less than 2 yrs old and always been extra careful with it) overheating and the battery discharging way faster than normal. I sent it to squaretrade and they claim to have replaced the battery, but it seems even worse now. I tried the reset where you let the battery discharge fully, then charge it up with the phone off, and then repeat. Now my phone won't charge past 98%. Squaretrade won't cover their repair so I'm stuck with it. Is it dying? Should I start shopping for a new phone?

It could be the battery near the end of it's useful life. Don't know what "squaretrade" is. But I know it's relatively inexpensive to get an S7 battery replaced.

I've got a Galaxy S7 here that a friend in the UK gave me. I still think it's a good phone, and is still supported by Samsung with updates. He gave it me because the front glass was broken, but I've been able to get it repaired locally while I waited, and quite inexpensively.

 

[gale65]

Squaretrade is a warranty service. One that used to be great, was bought out by another company, and now sucks. Battery replacement here runs from around $180-$200 USD which is way too much for me to spend on a 2 year old phone.

Strangely enough, I plugged it in before going to bed (which I don't normally do) and it did finally reach 100%. But the strange part is that I unplugged it at about 6:30 am and it has only lost about 1% per hour since then. Yesterday it was losing 6% per hour. 1% is definitely not the norm for this phone though, so I am sure it's just a glitch allowing it to discharge normally. lol

 

[lunatic59]

Rapid discharge, excessive warmth and not fully charging tell me that you might have a data process or network connection stuck "on". Do your battery stats indicate any app or service using the lion's share of power? You also might want to take a good look at your charger, cable and usb port. I've had chargers die like this, or a bad cable or dirty charging port could also effect charging.

A factory reset or reflashing the firmware might be your best option right now.

I tried the reset where you let the battery discharge fully, then charge it up with the phone off, and then repeat.

That was something that was to condition the old NiMH batteries. All current smartphones use Li-ion batteries. Deep discharges can be harmful to them and you'll get better performance from smaller incremental charges. Also, Li-ion batteries do not have a 'charge memory' so they don't ever need to be conditioned this way.

 

[gale65]

This was a recent article and was for li ion batteries, and had a disclaimer saying it may not work. It also said not to do it very often or it's bad for the battery. the "reset" is more for the phone than the battery anyway. I figured I had nothing to lose since my battery was junk anyway (fully discharges in 2 hours with light use). I tried the small incremental charges for at least 6 months and it just kept getting worse and worse.

https://www.androidpit.com/how-to-calibrate-the-battery-on-your-android-device

according to the stats, the main battery hogs are screen and android system. Same as when it was working fine. I've tried multiple chargers, cables, and even outlets in my house.

 

[gale65]

Also, it has been factory reset at least 6 times in the past month. It's not rooted.

 

[lunatic59]

The thing that bothers me is the heat. Is this something that coincided with the power drain problems? It might be a failing radio/antenna that is forcing the phone to strain to maintain connections. Anything hardware-related says to me to start shopping. Now, if you are happy with the S7 otherwise, you might consider a reconditioned phone.

 

[gale65]

It started a few months ago and the battery draining started around the same time. I was under the impression that the battery heating up (the heat is clearly where the battery sits) would also cause the fast discharging. I do like this phone but since my son's S7 is also having problems after 6 months, I'm not planning to buy another Samsung phone. I'll probably get an original google pixel because a really good camera is important to me. I actually have a Moto g5+ that I bought as a backup while mine was in the shop and it's excellent with battery life but the camera, even with different apps, is not great.

 

[lunatic59]

I was under the impression that the battery heating up (the heat is clearly where the battery sits) would also cause the fast discharging.

Close. The heat is an indication of rapid discharging, but it doesn't cause it.

That is, unless there's a short in the battery itself, but then it would most likely swell up and pop the back off the phone.

 

[gale65]

Well something is definitely up. Yesterday I unplugged it at 6:30 am and set it down on standby. 4 hours later I turned it on and it was at 96% so it only lost about 1% per hour. Today I unplugged it at about 11 am. I just went to use it and it was at 98%. Clicked on one text and it immediately jumped to 94%. I don't know if some hardware is causing the wonky discharge or if the battery meter is off.

 

[svim]

S...Battery replacement here runs from around $180-$200 USD which is way too much for me to spend on a 2 year old phone.

A lot of that price quote probably involved just basic labor costs. It's not the battery itself, it's the process involved. Replacing the battery in a S7 isn't just about removing basic mechanical fasteners (screws and clips), it's dealing with all the glues and adhesives when tearing the phone down, and when done properly (a S7 adds a lot of waterproofing seals to cope with), to put everything back together. A more detailed guide shown here:
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Samsung+Galaxy+S7+Battery+Replacement/90299

Well something is definitely up. Yesterday I unplugged it at 6:30 am and set it down on standby. 4 hours later I turned it on and it was at 96% so it only lost about 1% per hour. Today I unplugged it at about 11 am. I just went to use it and it was at 98%. Clicked on one text and it immediately jumped to 94%. I don't know if some hardware is causing the wonky discharge or if the battery meter is off.

Try wiping the system cache partition and see if that makes any difference in how the battery gauge works. Clearing the system cache won't affect your stored files or settings, it's just a cache so it only contains temporary, working files. Just in case some file in it became corrupted and won't get deleted automatically as it should, manually wiping the entire cache partition won't hurt anything and can only help. You need to boot your phone up into its Recovery Mode to do this -- note that it's a text only interface so you need to use the indicated buttons to navigate through the various menu options. Basically, start up in Recovery Mode, select the 'wipe cache partition' option, then reboot normally. This link has details on what to do:
https://www.android.gs/reboot-recovery-mode-for-galaxy-s7/

If that doesn't make any improvement, you could also try starting up your S7 into its Safe Mode. When running in Safe Mode, only the base Android operating system gets loaded so no third-party apps or services get auto-loaded as they normally do. See if your battery gauge isn't so quirky while running in Safe Mode. If there is an improvement, that's an indicator that there is some app you might have installed that's causing the problem. Note that while running your phone in Safe Mode that a lot of things take more time to start up since they're not pre-loading in the background during startup -- gives you a clearer picture on the battle between making your user experience more seamless with all kinds of things already loaded into memory vs. taxing the phone's basic system resources with services that may or may not be called upon. Anyway, instructions on how to boot up into Safe Mode here:
http://www.tomsguide.com/faq/id-3050665/boot-safe-mode-samsung-galaxy.html

Hopefully one of the above suggestions will result in an improvement but if not, since you've already tried Factory Resets, a last resort measure would be to re-flash the stock ROM. Flashing a ROM on smartphone is essentially similar to re-installing the operating system on a computer. On a typical computer OS there's an Install disc or image, that auto-detects and then installs the necessary OS files and required drivers (very simplified summary) but with smartphones, there are instead ROMs. For something like Windows, the Install disc can be applied to wide range of different hardware configurations from multiple vendors. With a ROM, it's a different story. Each ROM is specific to its corresponding model of phone. So you don't want to flash a Moto G6 ROM onto your S7, nor do you want to flash a Galaxy S8 ROM onto your S7.
Go here, locate the ROM that exactly matches your specific model of S7. Don't mix and match, only use the ROM that corresponds for your model and your carrier.
https://updato.com/firmware-archive-select-model?exact=1&q=GALAXY S7
Once you download the ROM (probably be well over 1GB in size), follow these directions:
https://updato.com/how-to/how-to-install-an-official-samsung-stock-firmware-using-odin

 

[gale65]

I tried clearing the system cache. I think I did that 2 days ago or maybe 3. It's actually something I've done so many times on this phone that it's routine anymore. I'll try the safe mode and see what it does.

If I reflash the rom won't it require rooting the phone? I play a game that won't work on rooted devices. It's a community game so I really want to keep playing it.

 

[svim]

Flashing a stock ROM on your Samsung does not require rooting, that only applies when you're flashing a custom ROM.

 

[gale65]

awesome-thanks. I'll try that if nothing else works.

 

[gale65]

Hopefully one of the above suggestions will result in an improvement but if not, since you've already tried Factory Resets, a last resort measure would be to re-flash the stock ROM. Flashing a ROM on smartphone is essentially similar to re-installing the operating system on a computer. On a typical computer OS there's an Install disc or image, that auto-detects and then installs the necessary OS files and required drivers (very simplified summary) but with smartphones, there are instead ROMs. For something like Windows, the Install disc can be applied to wide range of different hardware configurations from multiple vendors. With a ROM, it's a different story. Each ROM is specific to its corresponding model of phone. So you don't want to flash a Moto G6 ROM onto your S7, nor do you want to flash a Galaxy S8 ROM onto your S7.
Go here, locate the ROM that exactly matches your specific model of S7. Don't mix and match, only use the ROM that corresponds for your model and your carrier.
https://updato.com/firmware-archive-select-model?exact=1&q=GALAXY S7
Once you download the ROM (probably be well over 1GB in size), follow these directions:
https://updato.com/how-to/how-to-install-an-official-samsung-stock-firmware-using-odin

Hi again. I think I want to do this but have a question. I use Straight Talk but it's not listed as a carrier. I do know my sim card is AT&T so would I just use the AT&T rom?

 

[Shotgun84]

Honestly it's late/early here so I've just skimmed the thread. So basically your battery was bad and they replaced it on warranty and now it's worse? If so, write them a polite email asking them to fix it properly or you'll take them to the small claims court. Chances are they fix it to save the hassles.

 

[gale65]

I wrote and called several times. They told me to send it back in, which I did, and they claim there's damage to the phone so the warranty is voided. There's a scratch on the corner and I don't remember it being there but there's not a lot I can do. I'm probably going to get a new phone and never buy samsung again. And never buy a warranty from squaretrade again, either.

So now my option, until I have the $$ for a new phone, is to reinstall the original ROM.

 

[lunatic59]

they claim there's damage to the phone so the warranty is voided.

What sort of damage? A scratch is just cosmetic and never should void a warranty on a battery. Did they say it was exposed to water? And, WAS it ever dunked?

 

[gale65]

No, it was never wet or anything like that. The 2nd time I sent it, they never even opened it up. They said there was damage and sent me a picture of the scratch, and then said that the warranty doesn't cover any repairs with that type of damage. This is the exact email (they didn't open the phone the 2nd time I sent it-I called and they verified that they stopped as soon as they saw the scratch). They said any malfunctions *could* have been caused by this damage, thus it was not covered at all:

An audit was preformed on your device and physical damage was found within the unit. Unfortunately, your warranty for this item does not include coverage for repairs with this type of damage.

Due to this, we will not be able to proceed with repair and will be shipping back the item to you. Tracking information will be provided to you as soon as it is available.

Note that I have a case on the phone 24/7 (Unless I remove it to try to cool off the phone) so I don't know how any outside damage could have happened.

eta: they did eventually refund me the cost of the warranty. That was after a lot of calls, asking for supervisors, etc.

 

[gale65]

This is the picture they sent me when I questioned it. Believe me, I don't let things go easily. I probably logged a couple of hours total on the phone with them over this (not including the hold times).

 

[gale65]

Update-still using my S7 although I just got the pixel 2. I'm waiting on extra charging cables but in the meantime my phone is even more weird than before. It will charge to 100% and has been for a while. But for the past week or so it takes about 40-45 minutes to charge from 5% to 100% when it used to take a couple of hours. It also discharges just as quickly.

 

[KBU2]

Update-still using my S7 although I just got the pixel 2. I'm waiting on extra charging cables but in the meantime my phone is even more weird than before. It will charge to 100% and has been for a while. But for the past week or so it takes about 40-45 minutes to charge from 5% to 100% when it used to take a couple of hours. It also discharges just as quickly.

They say no matter what product you have you always find a lemon somewhere out the bunch.

 

[gale65]

My son also has the S7 and it has all kinds of problems too. And he has babied that phone because right after he got his is when mine started acting up. Kind of kills my confidence in samsung.